Those precious lost seconds, with Tugh running along the top of the dam and his Robots advancing to join him!
"Tina, hurry!" I cried. Larry and I bent anxiously over her, but the levers meant nothing to us. There were lost seconds while she desperately fumbled, and Larry pleaded:
"Tina, dear, what's the matter?"
"He must have ripped out a wire to make sure of getting away. I—I must find it. Everything seems all right."
A minute gone. Surely Tugh would have reached the gate by now. Or, worse, the Robots would have come through, and would assail us here.
"Tina!" pleaded Larry, "don't get excited. Take it calmly: you can find the trouble."
rushed to the window. I could see the upper half of the cross wall gate-barrier. It jutted above the top edge of the dam from the point of vision. On the Manhattan side I saw the oncoming Robot lights. And then suddenly I made out a light on this side of the barrier; it marked Tugh; it must have been a beam signal he was carrying. It moved slowly, retarded by distance, but it was almost to the gate; and then it reached there.